FITTING IN: WHAT IT’S LIKE AS A BLACK PERSON EXISTING IN A NON BLACK ENVIRONMENT

new face new challenge

Growing up, I have always been one of the only African American students in my class and school. And for me, I didn’t know anything else. That was until I came back to my community. And as you get older, you’re turned on to the societal issues. And that’s when you become aware of your surroundings. Being a kid, you’re a kid with other kids. But you will always be reminded somehow of the society where you live. But hwy, why would society remind a child of something so deep at such a young age?

cultural shift

The reason for one of the discomforts is the idea that once you step into someone else’s domain, you are quickly inundated with a different way of life. Not better, just a drastic shift: the food, the music, all the way down to the infliction in the voice. So now you feel like you’re living in two worlds. For me growing up, I have always loved a certain type of dress, that no pays pays attention to in way arena that catches attention in another. So that is what I mean by living in two worlds. But, what are the up sides if any?

they know you, you know them

For me growing up in a community of Black people, but a school of mostly White, you’re coming into a space, where you are this group’s first interaction with anyone from your community. So they are learning something about you and you are learning something about them. And learning about someone outside of yourself is the first step in understanding people you might not otherwise have a daily interaction with. You learn their likes and dislikes, but also a cultural understanding for why someone is who they are in life. But all of this is contingent on the person you’re getting to know who is able to converse with you on a deeper level of understanding.